As far as junior point guard Noah Mister is concerned, Mount Carmel’s quest for a trip to the state finals in 2025-26 starts now. And redemption will be a big part of the focus.
Last season as a sophomore, Mister enjoyed the ride of making it to the Class 3A state championship game, with the Caravan finishing in second place.
But mere minutes after Monday night’s supersectional, Mister was already laying down the law.
“It’s not going to happen again,” he said. “We have work to do, but it’s not going to happen again.”
Despite Mister’s best effort, the Caravan dropped a 49-48 decision to St. Patrick in the Class 3A Illinois-Chicago Supersectional at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago.
The 6-foot-2 Mister led Mount Carmel (29-6) with 22 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the final eight seconds that closed the gap to the final score. He also had a game-high four assists.
Cameron Thomas came through with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Caravan, while Keith Jenkins added seven points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Afterward, Mister stayed around to watch the following Class 4A supersectional game between Kenwood and Rich Township. Even though he transferred from Kenwood to Mount Carmel after his freshman year, Mister was happy for the Broncos.
“They are my guys,” Mister said. “I don’t have any bad feelings toward them. I’m not a hater.”
St. Patrick (28-7), which will be making its first trip to state under longtime coach Mike Bailey, was led Monday by RJ McPartlin with 12 points and eight rebounds. Anthony Favia added 10 points.
The Shamrocks will play at 6:30 p.m. Thursday against Brother Rice (30-6) at the State Farm Center in Champaign. The Crusaders rolled past Peoria 60-41 at the Pontiac Supersectional.
Mister, however, had earned the respect of St. Patrick’s players. EJ Breland said his family and Mister’s family are close and they grew up playing together.
“I know him pretty well, and he’s always been a great player,” Breland said of Mister. “He can make a lot of tough shots.”
Nevaeh Hawkins agreed with Breland in his assessment of Mister.
“From my perspective, he’s a great basketball player,” Hawkins said. “For him to take those shots and make them — he has nothing to hang his head about. He was definitely a problem for us.”
Mister said the difference between winning and losing Monday was the “small mistakes” that Mount Carmel made. He took some blame for that, pointing to five turnovers, several for traveling.
“Man, I didn’t think some of them were, but those were the calls and you have to keep playing,” Mister said.
A year ago, Mount Carmel needed overtime in the supersectional to beat St. Patrick 56-46. Mister finished eight points and seven assists in that game.
Even though Thomas, Air Force recruit Grant Best, Jenkins and other talented seniors will be graduating, Mister can’t wait to see the development of the Caravan’s younger players, including Claude Mpouma and Marshaun Thornton.
Mount Carmel coach Phil Segroves acknowledged that he will need time to digest this loss and see what areas can be improved.
Still, he has an optimistic view of the future and appreciates this season’s team, even though the Caravan came up one game short of reaching to state.
“If you were in our locker room, you would have seen emotion,” Segroves said. “There were a lot of ‘I love yous’ and ‘I’m going to miss yous.’ It shows we’re doing things the right way.
“As proud as I was of last year’s team, I’m just as proud of this year’s team. And how can you go wrong next year with Noah Mister leading the team?”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
